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and then there were two…

July 2, 2009

you all know about my handspun EZ snail hat. well, now there’s another fabulous snail hat in the blogosphere.

here at Knithound Brooklyn.

which makes me want a whole legion of handspun snails.  can you imagine how happy a place the internet (and real world) would be if only there were a bunch of these around?

enter the knit-a-long.  a handspun EZ knit along.  if you’d like to join the snail maddness, there’s a thread in ravelry here. and we don’t necessarily require you to use handspun ;)

EDIT: and then there were two threads!  also the July hat-a-long in the Hats! Hats! Hats! group.  thanks janknit :)

handspun spiral hat

p.s. join and talk about it by blogging, tweeting, mentioning it in a forum, or inviting others to join and i’ll enter you in a drawing for a skein of my handspun! be sure to come back to this thread and comment to be entered.  you have until tuesday the 7th at 5 pm eastern time.

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places and spaces

July 1, 2009

ben and i are moving (10 blocks away) at the end of the month, so this weeks update theme is places i/we have lived.

spaces and places update
1. vancouver, 2. speedway, 3. orange street, 4. trinity, 5. university ave., 6. sherbrooke, 7. east missoula, 8. east spruce, 9. jardine court

going up in the shop today.  four skeins of this update are worstedish weight recycled sweater wools in 3-4 oz amounts… perfect for accessory projects!

p.s. and i almost forgot to share – here’s my newest newsletter too.

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summertime…

June 30, 2009

and the knitting is easy
summertime...

shawl for a friend’s wedding in october
blanket squares for my church knitting group
some of the most recent recycled sweater wool – most of the way to being a superhero helmet hat

what’s your easy summertime knitting?

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it took less than one week

June 28, 2009

for katie (my mother-in-law) to arrive in pittsburgh, go to a thrift store with us, find a sweaterskirt at said thrift store (which hides its sweaters in the back during the summer), rip said sweaterskirt apart and knit her dad a pair of fingerless mitts.

silk, angora, nylon and lambswool
katie's mitts

go katie go!

katie's mitts

p.s. thanks for all the baby belle love :)

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Baby Belle

June 26, 2009

baby belle

A very girlie bell-shaped top down raglan baby cardigan with a cute little ruffle at the bottom and contrasting neck and cuffs.  No seaming required!

Yarn: Worsted to aran weight yarns that knit to gauge.  One 3.5 oz (100 g) skein for the main color, and a partial skein for the contrasting color.  A small ball of stash yarn can be used for the button band.  You may need more main color yarn if knitting the largest size with the full length sleeve variation.

Needles: 16 or 24 in. (40.6 or 61 cm) size 8 US (5 mm) needles and a set of double-pointed needles in the same size, or whatever size you need to get gauge.

Gauge: 4.5 sts/in. (2.5 cm)

Size: smaller(larger), approximately 3 mo.(6 mo.) – Picture of 6 mo. with ¾ length sleeves.

when you click on the button below and follow through on the payment, a two page automatic download in pdf format will be delivered to your email address.

$5.00

baby belle

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katie update

June 24, 2009

my mother-in-law is here, and so i had her name most of these.

katie update
1. 100 year old violinrecycled banana republic , 2. falkland , 3. ripe bananas handspun falkland, 4. cinnamon bun falkland , 5. braising greens recycled old navy , 6. cool blue corriedale cross, 7. blueberry cranberry tea recycled old navy , 8. little green worm shetland , 9. strawberries recycled old navy

they’ll go up in the shop today, although not right this minute.  first i have to count yards and weigh.

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today’s porch

June 22, 2009

today's porch

is full of everything i could find in the house to dye! guess i should order some more wool ;)

hope you have a great monday!

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handspun snail hat

June 20, 2009

we are knitting this Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern for a little knit-a-long at the knitting group that meets at my yoga studio – and oops!  i already knit mine.  guess i’ll have to knit another.

handspun spiral hat

size 13 needles

this handspun falkland yarn (stolen from the shop – there are still 2 more skeins if you want to make one of your own)

rainforest

the 3 spiral variation done in 2 days. i had a very very hard time stopping knitting… handspun is addictive and this hat is super fun and bulky quick.  we all know how fond i am of hats ;)  i’m planning to wear this one with my bright red coat.

handspun spiral hat

raveled here with more pictures!

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surprise!!

June 18, 2009

if you remember, i was hoping to buy my first fleece at one of the fiber festivals i attended this spring. today, while sorting spinning stuff for my next dye session, guess what i found…

ella's fleece

an already washed bfl fleece from a sheep named ella.

with a lovely note from the farmer.

it appears that last december, while searching local harvest for farms, i found bearlin acres. they didn’t have any BFL roving, but i thought hey! what the heck, and ordered 2 lbs of already washed locks. and apparently it was a complete fleece.  in the midst of my spinning/dyeing craziness to prepare for the knit and crochet festival and homespun yarn party, i put this aside without doing anything to it (or even examining it closer!).

ella's fleece

the note from the farm reads:

Cosette – This fleece was washed through 1 time already. The raw fleece was skirted and picked by hand. There is still some (clean) straw & hay in it, but minimal amounts. She is a good ewe (2 yrs old) & has a small dark brown spot on her shoulder. That’s why you’ll find a small group of locks in brown. This is her whole fleece.

aw… thanks to both ella and linda. i look forward to playing with it.

on another note – i CANNOT believe i bought my first whole fleece without knowing it. gee

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over the rhine update

June 17, 2009

more summer listening – lyics from one of my favorite bands.

over the rhine update
1. beautiful delusion, 2. little blue river, 3. gravity is mine, 4. these latter days, 5. stitching the clouds, 6. i know ohio, 7. road weary perfume, 8. 80% angel, 10% demon, 9. with roiling joy

going up in the shop today!  all of the rovings are ohio shetland farm wool (very lovely, i’ll probably re-order from this farm).  yarns are a couple bulky bfls, my friend cindy’s shetland, and one cvm.